


Tantalus and the Golden Haven

by nonky



Category: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
Genre: F/M, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 15:27:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29561187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonky/pseuds/nonky
Summary: They were slumped together comfortably, and he had turned off the ceiling light for a small lamp. Nancy was still tingling pleasantly. She didn’t think she could go to sleep easily. It was nice to cuddle but her brain didn’t always let her rest in her own bed.“I’ll probably only get a nap or something,” Owen said. “I can sleep on the plane. I’m a little wound up. Maybe lie down and relax?”Spoilers up to episode 1x15, The Terror of Horseshoe Bay.
Relationships: Nancy Drew/Owen Marvin
Comments: 7
Kudos: 8
Collections: Nancy Drew TV Series (2019)





	Tantalus and the Golden Haven

Their chemistry was paying off, a gamble on closeness Nancy felt good about winning. She wasn’t sure how to feel about sea spirits, ghosts and salvaging human bones from the ocean. But she was sure her night was ending better than she deserved, and she didn’t mind losing sleep for all of it.

Owen’s shoulders were bunched in constant tension, his upper body braced above her on one arm while the other held her into each thrust like an iron girder. Nancy had her legs all the way around his hips, both of them grinding furiously on the sensation becoming a tidal wave to pull them both under the breathless hush. 

Somewhere in it they’d locked eyes, and they were moving too urgently to figure out a way to kiss. They were on round three, and Owen’s first real loss of control. He’d jarred her with the initial heavy shove inside her, bouncing her head over the pillow into the headboard. Nancy saw his immediate remorse and had no time for it. She’d slid her hips down to get absolutely underneath him, nodding as she stroked his arms soothingly. 

“I’m good,” she’d mumbled. 

Even then, Owen had paused to shut his eyes, brushing a nuzzling apology kiss over her hair. It was such an oddly emotional whirl for her, almost overshadowing the hot fullness of his cock pinning her like some wild thing he’d had to capture. The ruffle of her hair under his stubble was barely anything next to it, but Nancy had shuddered with a loud gasp. 

He’d caught the urgency and was just going for the finish, intent on watching her come. She knew he was holding off for her by the throb of him and the second of near pain on his face with each pull back. Her back and chest were flooding with a stifling warmth, blood rushing so quickly it felt like a swelling bruise. 

She moved her hand to his forearm and touched the bandage wrapped around it. He had stood in the water with her to ask a sea spirit for human bones. He hadn’t balked at the weirdness of it or the danger when he’d been sliced to bleed. After they pulled him to safety, he’d let her take care of him with no blame in his dark brown gaze. 

She could trust him. Nancy wanted to trust him. She needed this to be a good change in her life. They were moving together perfectly, fearless now with the blur of the outside world leaving them to broil. He was so warm and present. She looked down between them on Owen’s next pump of his hips, the wet glisten of his cock barely parting from her body before he groaned and sealed to her again. 

“You're watching us,” he whispered. 

Her hands wanted a better grip, going over his back and locking there to ride out the inevitable orgasm. Owen was shaking, the unsteady pulse of her body making it harder to wait for her. Nancy clenched on him and let her hips stutter them up to the precipice. Feverish heat swallowed her thoughts, narrowing and narrowing with the cruel squeeze she was putting on his desperate jerks deeper. She curled everywhere, torturing them both by going inhumanly still. 

It shattered with her shout, and his ragged sigh as his chest pressed her to the bed. Nancy actually felt her vertebrae crack with the release. She rubbed her face on his like an animal, breathing in heaves. 

Owen let her hang in the moment as long as he could bear. He petted her arm clumsily as he pulled out with an exhausted huff. He even looked down at himself as if to check he was getting back all his body parts unharmed. He moved to the side and lay next to her with a hand splayed over her belly. 

“God,” he mumbled. “I’ll get us some water when my legs work.”

Nancy laughed with giddy afterglow. “Okay old man, so next week some time?”

She got a pleasant nip to her shoulder and Owen stroked her breast with a little flick to her nipple. “Mean. I’m not that much older than you.”

He was much more observant of fitness than she was, and she felt every muscle as he tugged her until she tipped to her side facing him. 

“I just hope you don’t have a heart condition. It’s going pretty fast there, Owen.”

It was only after she’d put her hand to his chest she realized how easy it was to touch him like she knew she had permission. He kissed her softly and she responded with her neck falling carelessly back into the cup of his hand. It felt safe, and safety was her biggest surprise lately.

“Mm, water,” he said lightly. “Lots of water. Maybe I need to get a case in a mini fridge. Whew! I might not have the energy to do you any more favours.”

“I wouldn’t really call this a favour,” she teased.

Calling it anything this early was dangerous, and she was glad he rolled away to pull on boxers. Nancy knew her hair was a million tangles and she fished over the edge of the bed for clothing. 

“Want a t-shirt?”

“Please.” She slipped it on and caught Owen grinning at her, giving him a stern shake of her head. “Weren’t you getting us water?”

He licked his lips. “Couldn’t help it. You’re cute.”

She pulled at the shirt and waved him off. He left the room with a chuckle, and she went to the bathroom to clean up. As she was washing her face, Nancy looked at her smug grin. She was obviously long past needing sleep but her glowing flush offset the dark circles under her eyes. After tidying her hair, she returned to bed. Owen was sitting up under the covers, and he threw them back invitingly. 

The cold bottle of water was amazing, and she drank half of it before she put the lid on and handed it back. He set it aside and put his arm around her. 

“So it’s about three now, and if you need to leave I get it,” he said. “But I’d be happy for you to stay. I do have to leave for the airport in about four hours. You can hang out here and sleep in, if you want.”

She couldn’t delay getting John Anderson working on Lucy’s remains, and it was hard to imagine making herself at home in Owen’s apartment without him. The housekeeper might show up and get her arrested as a stalker. Even worse, Nancy thought she might sniff his pillow and miss him. 

“I should get up early, too, but I’d like to stay,” she told him. “Where are you going?”

“Shanghai, but only for a day or so. I have to be back for the Marvin party.”

It was weird to think of him being part of a Horseshoe Bay founding family, with a dynastic tradition and an obligation to provide one of the big events of the social season. Bess was spinning in circles trying to help Diana set up entertainment. Owen was less hyperactive in his help, but he surely had some duties to help host. The Drew family never had parties. They had sometimes done small dinners with a few other couples, and Nancy had been free to skip the adult conversation and go out for fast food with her high school friends. 

“Bess is very excited about the party, when she’s not being terrified of it,” she said. “Do you want to go to sleep?”

They were slumped together comfortably, and he had turned off the ceiling light for a small lamp. Nancy was still tingling pleasantly. She didn’t think she could go to sleep easily. It was nice to cuddle but her brain didn’t always let her rest in her own bed. 

“I’ll probably only get a nap or something,” Owen said. “I can sleep on the plane. I’m a little wound up. Maybe lie down and relax?”

They arranged pillows and settled in the middle of the bed, not quite cuddling. Nancy folded her hands under her cheek and idly traced the stitching on his quilt. 

“Is it weird to find out ghosts and stuff are real,” she asked. “I mean, other than the obvious weird of it, did you ever kind of believe it before?”

Owen made a little inquiring noise. “I think as a kid I definitely did, but then people talk you into being sensible. And I’d never seen anything so I thought it was just local legends or fiction. It’s wild but interesting. Like a new type of safari, and you have to respect the danger but you see things not everyone gets to experience.”

Nancy was ridiculously pleased with his answer, so much so she hugged his arm. “Yeah, it’s hard not to be fascinated by it.”

They lapsed into a calm silence, until he tipped his head down to check she was still awake. 

“Other than the obvious physical stuff, what’s your favourite part of sex?’

She blushed. “You mean my favourite position or something?”

He leaned his forehead to the top of her head. “No, just in general what do you try to hold on to in your memories?”

She wasn’t terribly sentimental about her romances. Her time with Nick had beautiful moments but it all led to a breakup. Boyfriends from before her mother died were already sort of forgotten. 

“I like figuring out why people do what they do, and sex has motivations. It can be sweet, or raunchy or even really upsetting. It can mean nothing or it can mean you’re trying to make a baby. The way you think about what you’re doing changes how it feels for both people. Sometimes the combined energy of it shifts everything and your mind has to change, too. It’s really mysterious before you’ve had it yourself. It’s a whole aspect of life you learn when a lot of the everyday has become routine. You have to learn all the social cues and choose how to be with each new partner.”

“I guess I can’t expect you to be less of a detective with your clothes off,” Owen said. “You’re right though, it’s too unique to ever be exactly the same way twice.”

Nancy fidgeted with her hair. “What is it for you?”

“Same question? Uh, I like that it’s about someone knowing you on a very basic level and deciding you’re good enough to share intimacy with them. Money and family connections impress people, and I’ve been networking at school or work forever. But I have different things I look for in a person when it’s a one-on-one situation that might end up in bed. I’ve learned beautiful is not something to chase if it’s the only thing to notice about a woman. I’m not against casual sex but I don’t get a lot of free time to myself. I need a girlfriend to be someone I can like as much as I’m attracted.”

He was going quieter with every sentence, and she was feeling shy, too. She nodded so he could feel it and searched her brain for a very safe topic. 

“Makes sense,” she agreed. “Hey can I show you something I learned this week? You know how people do this weird pinch in selfies? I didn’t know what it was until George’s little sister explained.” 

She put her arm up and crossed her finger and thumb. Owen touched her hand lightly and said, “Okay, tell me.”

“Korean pop stars started it as a gesture in photos for fans. It’s a small heart so you have your hand free to take your selfie or put your arm around somebody.”

He outlined the heart shape and said, “I see it. Kind of clever. Ted showed you that or one of the others?”

Nancy liked him remembering the little girl by name, and that George had more than one sister.

“Charlie is the K-pop fan. She’s a little older than Ted. There’s also Jessie who wants to be a marine biologist, and she’s the oldest after George.”

“I would have liked to have siblings, I think,” Owen said mildly. “I had cousins around a lot but it can’t be the same. They were matching sets and lived together all the time. I was the visitor.”

She folded her arm under the covers and hummed thoughtfully. “I don’t really know if I’d have liked it. Bess and I talked about it once. George is always really busy, but you can tell she loves them a lot. I grew up getting all the attention. If you’re the older sister you have to help out, but if you’re the younger you get bossed around. I know I don’t enjoy George’s bossing around.”

He held in a laugh and ran a hand through his hair. “Oh, yeah, I’ve seen you at work. I think Ace might deliberately be washing all the knives sometimes. Then rewashing them.”

Nancy sighed. “Yeah, that’s fair. Is this a strange conversation?”

He smiled at the ceiling. “We’ve never had a normal one but I don’t mind.”


End file.
